Love Over Money
by Serena Thorn
Summary: After finishing Julie's case, Veronica realizes how much it means to have someone who loves you for you. She realizes that it's been Lamb all along.


Title: Love Over Money  
Rating: PG-13  
Summary: Written for VM_Redux. After finishing Julie's case, Veronica realizes how much it means to have someone who loves you for you. She realizes that it's been Lamb all along.  
Spoilers: 2x04  
Word Count: 2980  
Disclaimer: Veronica Mars is not owned by me, but by Rob Thomas. I'm simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment.  
A/N: Happy Birthday, Jesse.

* * *

_*flashback*_

"_Veronica Mars," Lamb grinned as he slapped the folder in his hand against her feet that she had propped up on the reception desk._

_Veronica jumped, slightly in response at the brief stun of the sudden contact. Looking up from the book she had been reading ever so casually concealed by the text book she was supposed to be reading, she smiled up to the deputy she had found herself so enthralled with. He hadn't been there entirely long but she had liked what she knew of him so far. "Deputy."_

_All of fourteen but Don already knew she was going to be trouble. Her and the Kane girl both. But unlike Veronica, Lilly hadn't had a reason to be there every day. Veronica had even taken to bringing Keith his lunch on her own lunch breaks. He knew why. Enough giggling with the Kane girl when he would look her way and her own blushing when he would move just a little too close to her or casually touch her proved it._

_The sheriff's daughter had a crush. Not that his ego really needed the feast it received when she was there, but he couldn't help himself from enjoying it. For a kid, she was cute. As his boss' daughter he would often end up baby-sitting her when he didn't have his own work to do while Keith was busy. And really, having her field a call here or there and give him a break wasn't such a bad deal. She wanted to help and feel important and he was lazy. It was perfect. Well, so long as Keith didn't find out._

_*end flashback*_

* * *

Veronica bolted upright in her chair and let her feet drop to the floor as though she had been burned. It was her natural reaction when she remembered memories that weren't completely unpleasant of a certain unpleasant current sheriff. Shaking her head, willing the image of that damn folder hitting her away. She hadn't thought of that in years! Why now?

As if summoned by the thought, she heard her own words to Julie again. "I get it now. Money matters," she had told her. She shuddered at the thought of having said those words even sarcastically. Being friends with 09'ers had taught her well.

Money did matter.

Memories like that reminded her of a time when that didn't seem true. Lilly had been her friend partially because of Keith's title. It hadn't been because of Keith's title that Lamb had been nice to her that first day. That first day no one could pay her to mentally relive. Never. She knew she should have known he would be trouble the first time she saw those ultra blue eyes of his and that damn smirk she couldn't forget no matter how hard she tried.

Instead at fourteen and fifteen she had been too busy imagining prom. She had grinned to herself so many times over the reactions she would have gotten as she walked into the auditorium with her then-favorite deputy as her date.

_Taste is irrelevant when you're a teenage girl, clearly,_ Veronica thought to herself with a sigh.

Thinking of him then took her back to a time when money didn't matter, when titles didn't matter. Sure she was popular thanks to Lilly and Duncan, she had a model life even if she didn't live in the 90909 zip like her friends but when she was at the station she was able to be herself and never had to think who thought what. Well, beyond being the boss' daughter.

When girls had betrayed Lilly she had turned on them and Veronica had gone along with it because the last thing she had wanted was to be different from her friends. She hadn't wanted them to abandon her or think less of her.

_And just look at how well that turned out,_ she mentally chided herself.

All that was supposed to matter in Veronica's mind was that two people cared about each other. Like how Colin had cared about Julie. How she thought she had cared about Duncan. But between him keeping the secret of visiting Meg every week and how he had gone off on her for, heaven forbid, being upset about the bus crash she had really begun to wonder how much longer they were going to do this. He had lied to her, kept secrets from her and had otherwise been pretty insensitive lately.

He had his good points, sure. But, well, Logan had said it - despite how much she wanted to ignore the fact he was (she cringed) right.

The cuddling had been the best part.

* * *

_*flashback*_

"_Hey, I was just about to call you -" Don stated to the person on the other end of his cell phone._

_Veronica wasn't meaning to eavesdrop. She had been waiting for her dad to get done with an interview before he could take her home. And then Lamb's cell had run and she was sitting right there almost directly across from him._

"_I'm kinda busy right now, but yeah, I'm looking forward to Saturday too."_

_Veronica noticed he was trying to speak quietly enough so that others wouldn't hear him aside from the person he was talking to and smiling at the conversation with… She couldn't help her natural curiosity. At least she had a magazine to pretend to busy herself with._

"_Of course I managed to get the weekend off. They can't start the wedding without me. Well, alright, maybe they could but you've waited long enough for this."_

_Wedding? Veronica's heart sank. She hadn't been naïve enough to think her favorite deputy didn't have a girlfriend, but it would have been nice for him to mention one he was serious about. Then again, why would he? It wasn't like she really had a chance with him. Not at fifteen. But that was why she had been picturing when she was eighteen. Of course she was realizing that her first mistake had been thinking he would wait that long for her. She was just a kid to him, likely always would be. And in that moment she couldn't remember ever having felt like a bigger idiot._

"_Uh, can I call you back? I've gotta - Yeah, okay. See ya Saturday." With that Lamb was off his phone and taking after Veronica who was heading quickly down the hall. Anything happened to her and it would be his ass, he knew that well already. Of course why she was leaving so fast he didn't have a clue, but he knew with Keith busy it would be up to him to find out._

_She managed to make it to the women's room before he caught up to her and considered that a victory. She wouldn't cry. She refused. She wouldn't let Deputy Lamb be the reason she was crying. It was her own fault for getting attached, her own fault for letting her mind take over, her own fault for this._

_Several deep breaths and a stern mental talking to from herself later she decided she was ready to face the world again. Wiser, stronger, ready. Until she saw the lanky frame waiting for her in the hallway at least. Okay, one more deep breath later, she held her head high and stepped out._

"_Everything okay?" he asked her, already certain he wouldn't believe her standard 'yes' when something was wrong._

"_Yeah, never been better," she lied through her teeth with an only slightly pained smile._

"_You know you don't have to lie to me. We're buds, right?" Veronica was a girl he had yet to be able to figure out but that didn't mean he was going to stop trying. Clearly she was hurt but by what he couldn't fathom. He hadn't seen anyone come in or go out so that let out a boyfriend dumping her or a rival's or suspect's nasty comment._

"_Yeah," she replied, her smile tightening slightly but widening. Buds. Exactly. What they had been from day one. Or so he had claimed at least. "My own fault for liking some celebrity couples, just read about Michael and Jessica. Anyway, I kind of couldn't help overhearing. Congratulations on the wedding, I didn't know."_

_Lamb thought for a moment. She had heard his conversation? At least his end? Great. In that split second he managed to learn what calls not to take around infatuated teenaged girls. "Didn't figure you for the eavesdropping type, Veronica," he half-smirked, hoping to at least get a laugh out of her or something. Anything but this icy exterior she had managed to adopt seemingly in the last ten minutes._

"_I was sitting right there, doesn't count as eavesdropping," she shot back._

_Damn she was angry. Lamb couldn't help but be a little flattered. Not to mention thankful it wasn't what she thought. He would hate to be responsible for whatever she might do to a woman he was involved with. He made a quick mental note for her to never find out about who he was dating at any time. At least until she was legal. They could have that conversation then, in the meantime damage control was needed._

_Sighing, he told her, "You didn't know because it wasn't my wedding I was talking about. A buddy of mine's getting married this weekend, his fiancée has pushed the thing back three times already and Saturday, God willing, is finally gonna be the day. What you just congratulated me on? Is being his best man."_

_Veronica didn't know whether to scream or laugh. Not only had she humiliated herself but she was somewhere beyond relieved she had been wrong. Still, she refused to feed that over inflated ego any further. She knew he knew she liked him, but this had been a new low._

"_Now I could invite you as my date, but somehow I doubt that would make the Kane boy happy," he went on, his trademark smirk appearing._

_Veronica blushed for two reasons that time. Being caught, of course and at him having noticed Duncan's interest in her. And clearly she couldn't have one, so she accepted the other's offer just a few months later._

_*end flashback*_

* * *

Veronica hated what Julie's case had brought out in her. Jealousy she hadn't known in years that she had now been forced to relive and had even ended up thrusting onto Wallace given his time with Jackie. Since when was he the one with someone steady as opposed to her?

Not that Duncan wasn't steady, per se, but - and she would deny it with every fiber of her being should someone confront her - but even he wasn't the one she really wanted right now. To be clear: She would admit that his secrets and lies had hurt her, she would simply refuse to admit who it was she was wanting to be with right then.

Betrayal had been another foe she had been introduced to through this case. Julie's and her own. Why hadn't Duncan told her about going to see Meg? Since when did Meg's sister randomly drop by - or even know about - Duncan's suite? And Logan and Kendall. God, if there was one thing she knew she was better off not thinking about it was that.

She knew she had her options. She could sit around and continue to feel sorry for herself and wonder about all of these things or she could go and get her answers. She could also try to get even. Or she could revisit some old memories in person. In a way that would be a bit of all of the above. She had tried to talk to Duncan about the situation as it was but he had deflected. Logan was clearly busy and she was actually fine with that. It would be months, at least, before Kendall's stench would be off of him and Veronica had never been good at sharing in the first place.

So that left her with the option of confronting old memories in person. She hadn't stopped thinking about him for half the day. Not since she and Julie had talked about money mattering. Logan had money and he was with a slut trophy wife. Duncan had money and he was keeping secrets about his fellow 09'er ex-girlfriend.

Veronica decided it was time to give them a taste of how it felt. She could be with someone who was like her too. Okay, maybe she would be using him slightly but she could hardly feel guilty about it considering. Plus she'd had this talk with her younger self. She still wanted him. Part of her always would no matter how much she wanted to deny it. He had been her first serious crush, her first love. And he just happened to be a civil servant. The others had betrayed her too, thinking back to that day with him wouldn't deter her this time.

"Do I want to know what you're doing here?" Lamb sighed when he saw her walk almost casually into his office.

"'Now I could invite you as my date, but somehow I doubt that would make the Kane boy happy,'" Veronica quoted as she glanced around the office at nothing in particular. "Now what if the so-called Kane boy wasn't a factor? And I just happened to be legal unlike the last time you said that to me?"

"What are you talking about?" He had no idea what she was up to and really he wasn't sure he wanted to after what Keith had tried to do to him yesterday.

"Three years ago you got a phone call about a wedding and ended up buying me lunch to make up for me thinking you were the one getting married. Before that though you essentially implied that you would take me as your date to said wedding if Duncan wasn't a factor to cover up my age being the real factor. Now I'm eighteen as you've so pointedly mentioned lately. I'm willing to wave that promise of a wedding invite in exchange for something else."

Pieces of that day and conversation were coming back. How the hell did she remember these things? "Let me guess. A case file you're not supposed to even know exists? A parking ticket or five? Speeding ticket?"

"I was thinking something a little more personal, Deputy," she practically purred as she neared him. With him sitting there in his nice big sheriff chair, it would be so easy for her to demonstrate what she was after but she quickly decided to make him work just a little for it.

"How much more personal?" he asked as he watched her move to sit on his desk just in front of him, in one of her tiny denim skirts of course. He was beginning to realize something was more than a little different about her. For one thing she wasn't insulting him - yet. And that look in her eyes, he hadn't seen that in years.

"Admit it, Lamb. You thought I'd be one of those girls who grew up and forgot all about the guy she spent her teen years wanting," she went on, resting one booted foot just beside his thigh.

"Are you drunk, Mars?" Since when did she want to be this close to him?

She almost laughed as she shook her head. "Just got a dose of reality that I'm sure at least part of you will appreciate," she smirked as she descended from his desk and into his lap.

At least if there was one thing Veronica could say at the end of the night about her moment of insanity, it was that the cuddling had most definitely not been the best part.

"Surprised you're still here. Thought for sure there'd be a Veronica Mars-shaped hole in my door by now," Don all but sighed at the sight of her still beside him. How they had made it to his apartment and to his bed was still a blur.

"As much as I hate to disappoint you, Deputy, I'm not the kind to play and run. You don't pay me nearly enough for that."

"I don't pay you anything."

"Exactly," she grinned.

"I don't know why you're smiling at that. It just proves that you're here because you want to be and that you enjoyed yourself enough to where you're not demanding payment," he smirked, more than a little satisfied with himself. He had spent more time than he cared to admit fantasizing about her screaming and calling out his name like he had finally gotten her to.

She frowned. Bastard was right clear across the board. Well, there was a first time for everything. "And risk you attempting to arrest me for solicitation? Nice try. Not happening."

"I don't hear you denying that you enjoyed it," he informed her, his smirk never fading.

"Maybe because I can't remember any of it," she lied.

Lamb laughed. Of course she would say that. She really was a rotten liar when she was naked. "Guess I'll have to refresh your memory then."

Sighting continued temporary insanity, Veronica let him spend the next few hours doing just that. Thoroughly.

It was enough knowing that despite what they had put each other through over the last few years she hadn't had to be anything but herself with him. He liked her smart mouth and despite how much she frustrated him it didn't change all the fun things he wanted to do with her or have her do to him.

Anyone could love another person's money and or convince themselves the loved someone for their bank account. She thought of Kendall first. Real love came from those who accept you as you are, Veronica knew that. More now than ever.

The End


End file.
